My Aussie brother-in-law predicted his a year ago. The big issue was the carbon tax that the Labour government pushed through despite promises not to impose the tax. Aussies were mad as hell their electric bill went up by 20% as a result of the carbon tax.

If there is an election in 2016, I will personally vote only for hand picked conservatives who will represent my conservative values and leave the rinos and liberals of the pubs to be elected by their liberal rino fools that believe their lies. The GOP is dead as it is filled with liberal democrats who have destroyed them from within. I do not believe that America can recover from the disaster it brought upon itself and will, as all corrupt nations have, disappear into the slime of secular humanism.

18
posted on 09/07/2013 7:44:50 AM PDT
by kindred
( God is just and the justifier of him that believes in Jesus.)

[The big issue was the carbon tax that the Labour government pushed through despite promises not to impose the tax. Aussies were mad as hell their electric bill went up by 20% as a result of the carbon tax.]

The high cost of liberalism is always destruction of the economy by those who steal their hard earned money through over taxation and all their useful idiot voting blocs.

19
posted on 09/07/2013 7:50:24 AM PDT
by kindred
( God is just and the justifier of him that believes in Jesus.)

The first major casualty of the “Great Global Warming Swindle.” More and more evidence is coming out that carbon dioxide is NOT the great boogieman of global warming. Australia tried to be upfront with a nationwide carbon tax which the taxpayers rejected. The US on the other hand is moving forward using a strategy of a “thousand cuts” through increasingly stringent regulations by a partisan and unscientific EPA together with the complicity of the mainstream media and educational institutions from grade school through college.

Each country has unique characteristics so what works in one won’t translate exactly in another but what I read from this one is that the appeal to pocketbook bread and butter issues can lead to electoral victory. If there is one issue looming over America right now that is going to cost a lot of people a lot of money it’s Obamacare and if you can message it right the green agenda. That is the key to booting the socialists out. You have to show the voter how much it will cost to elect Hillary or whatever socialist the next dim candidate is.

In a week or so the Governor-General will swear in a new government; a government that says what it means and means what it says, a government of no surprises, and no excuses, a government that understands the limits of power as well as its potential. And a government that accepts that it will be judged more by its deeds than by its mere words.

I don't need anybody to give me my guns back, because they never took them away. That is a myth that has been spread around in America for domestic political purposes.

Australia does have some overly restrictive gun laws - universal registration and tiered licencing. Amending those has not been an issue in this campaign, and so I don't know what Abbott's position is on them. It's not considered a major conservative issue in Australia - we don't have an equivalent of your second amendment, so it's not a constitutional issue which would make it much more important, because conservatives expect the constitution to be followed. But also, those who want to own guns focus on doing the things you need to do to own them within the law, rather than worrying too much about the laws. I'd like to see the laws relaxed, but we're not America, and our attitudes are not the same on this.

43
posted on 09/07/2013 4:21:12 PM PDT
by naturalman1975
("America was under attack. Australia was immediately there to help." - John Winston Howard)

Not necessarily. What is being proposed there are tougher sentences for people who commit crimes with guns. People who illegally import firearms. Smugglers, in other words. Not law abiding people who legally own or legally import firearms.

Personally, if we don't want controls on law abiding citizens, I think it's sensible to crack down on the actual criminals.

44
posted on 09/07/2013 4:24:29 PM PDT
by naturalman1975
("America was under attack. Australia was immediately there to help." - John Winston Howard)

For any Aussies: What will be the effect of not having a majority in the Senate? Will the Carbon tax repeal have difficulty?

On the Senate question, we won't know exact Senate results for some time, but on current indications the Coalition will have 33 Senators, which is not enough to command control of the Senate in its own right.

But, it looks like the Palmer United Party will have two Senators, and Senator Nick Xenophon (an independent) will be returned. These three will almost certainly support the coalition on most issues, getting us to 36. Family First may have also returned a Senator, and again on most issues, they will support us. That's 37. And if the Democratic Labor Party take another seat (and that looks possible), and they support us as well (despite their name, they share a lot of common ground with the conservatives) then with the one they already have it's 39. The Senate has 76 members, so 39 is a majority.

In other words, if things break our way, we should be able to get our legislation through the Senate with the support of minor parties. Labor and the Greens together (our main opposition) look like that will only have 35. We might even pick up one or two more above the 39.

It's looking OK at the moment - we'd prefer control in our own right, but we do have high hopes it'll be workable.

49
posted on 09/07/2013 4:38:32 PM PDT
by naturalman1975
("America was under attack. Australia was immediately there to help." - John Winston Howard)

I read that Abbot says it the carbon tax will take 3 years to eliminate. Why so long?

I think he's being misunderstood. He said this in his victory speech last night and he was talking about all the things he was going to do in his first term - a term here is normally three years. So the three years was a reference to 'my first term' not a statement that it would necessarily take all three years.

50
posted on 09/07/2013 4:44:26 PM PDT
by naturalman1975
("America was under attack. Australia was immediately there to help." - John Winston Howard)

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